Ryan Ackerman (11 – 5 – 1) vs. Ivan Menjivar (13 – 3 – 1)
This highly anticipated bout delivered exactly what fans in attendance came to see. Both fighters brought everything they had, ready to do battle and wrap up the night with an incredible performance.
Menjivar came out strong and confident, taking the center of the ring quickly and demonstrating his dominance in the standup game, dropping Ackerman early in the round and following through with punishing ground and pound from his guard. Menjivar picked apart Ackerman progressively, using his striking, flurries of knees to the body, accurately delivered head-kicks, and even a few spinning back fists.
A solid right was able to drop Ackerman once again, and allowed for more ground and pound. After a short pause in the action to check the condition of a cut on Ackerman’s head, the bout was restarted.
Another kick to the head by Menjivar left Ackerman rocked, but definitely not out of the game yet, as he was able to hand out a short flurry of his own near the end of the round, causing Menjivar to back off somewhat, but not inflicting any damage.
In Round 2, Menjivar continued his stand-up dissection of Ackerman, landing a bevy of strikes, which brought the crowd to their feet. A persistent Ackerman, amidst the flurry he was victim to, was still able to land a few of his own convincing strikes. Forced into the corner, however, Ackerman could no longer defend against the stand up skills of Menjivar, succumbing to knees and causing the bout to be halted at 2:02 of the second round.
With this superb performance, Menjivar further reinforces his status as one of Canada’s best fighters in the Featherweight division.
Despite a low audience turnout and a fight card plagued with injuries and changes, the Apex team managed to hold together and put on a great inaugural event. One can only hope to see more from this new organization that could prove to be quite a force in the Canadian Mixed Martial Arts scene.
A second show is tentatively scheduled for January 2005.
